Roger Green’s Version

Back in November, Assembly Member Roger Green, who represents most of the Atlantic Yards footprint and is a big supporter of the project, told The Observer that he was planning to introduce a bill to scale down the arena and housing complex:

“I didn’t sign the C.B.A. and that was intentional, because my position was that my ultimate endorsement on behalf of this project would be the state legislation, the legislation that would authorize the resources that they would need to complete this project.”

The bill, he said, would come in January:

“We’re working on legislation as we speak. We are trying to do a comprehensive bill that looks at reducing the density. Another bill works with issue of traffic calming. It is going to look at consumption pricing similar to what exists in London. And the other bill is about the installation of vegetative rooftops to address stormwater run-off and heat islands.”

Well, January ended two months ago, and the legislature is on the brink of approving $33 million for the project, and Green has not introduced any bill and is about to lose a very powerful means of leveraging any change. Green told us today that he would still introduce the green roofs and traffic bills, but as for reducing the size:

“It is really going to be a fiscal issue: Is there a way of developing this project so that we maintain affordability at the same time so that we make sure it covers the cost of developing the housing so it doesn’t blow out the numbers that ACORN has worked on? We are going to work on it. There are some models other states have used–to reduce the cost of housing.”